Emmerick Street Preschool Philosophy and Practice
We welcome and respect the perspectives and acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal and Wangal people.
Who We Are and What We Do
Emmerick Street Community Preschool has been educating local children since the 1970’s. We are situated in Lilyfield, in the Inner West of Sydney, in the Eora nation, home of the Gadigal and Wangal people. The preschool has a rich history of bringing local families together to support and nurture children and their learning. This legacy still informs our philosophy and practice today, and we hope it will continue to inform our culture for many years to come.
Our experiences in early childhood can shape us for the rest of our lives, influencing how we feel about ourselves, how we relate to others, how we learn and solve problems, and how we cope with risk and change.
At Emmerick Street, we nurture each child’s sense of belonging, creativity, curiosity, and independence, helping them to meet their immediate challenges, as well as prepare them for those they will meet in the years ahead.
Our Much Loved Philosophy…………
In 1978, Emmerick Street Preschool was operating out of a lean-to in Birchgrove. This is where our community spirit came alive and is still thriving with its own pulse to this day!
Relationships and connections are core to our community. Time is taken to listen and know staff, families, community, and most importantly the children. The uniqueness of each child is celebrated, welcomed, and present every day.
It is each child’s right to a stimulating curriculum. Careful planning captures a multitude of learning styles and personalities whilst encapsulating the heart and voice of each child.
Research scaffolds team thinking and this promotes critical reflection as well as teaching children to be critical thinkers, to dream, think and wonder in diverse ways.
We observe and embed ourselves in children’s play. Partnerships with children are crucial to unveiling each child’s potential to grow and learn.
Over the years we have developed a pedagogy of friendship to support and recognize children’s growing skills in making and being a friend.
Acknowledging Gadigal Wangal land and paying respects to First Nations Peoples is embedded in our teachings as well as culture from all around the world. It is a gift to grow spiritually and culturally from new learning.
Being sustainable and caring for the land go hand in hand. Children are immersed in learning how to care for and love our planet and take good care of it.
Each child is to feel safe, heard and valued. Safety is embedded across all parts of our operation.
We witness children being brilliant at least 1000 times a day, we take each child very seriously whilst recognising the privilege of guiding and supporting them to develop a love of learning for life.
*Please note this philosophy is a living document and all staff, families and the children are involved in its creation.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child has been considered in the development of our Philosophy and in particular Articles: 3, 6, 12, 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36.
The Safe Standards reflected in this document are 1, 2, 3 and 4
Updated: 11/05/2023
*Currently being Reviewed by all stakeholders as well as in our Philosophy floor book used with children (From Term Two 2023)
Our Practises
How we View Children
All children are capable and resourceful explorers, who are able to learn about the world by using their own initiative. At Emmerick Street, we challenge the children to experiment and solve their own problems, as well as to participate in the running of the preschool. We believe that strong relationships with educators and other children help them to think and act independently and allow them to accumulate the skills they need to be ready for school. However, we also believe that childhood is a stage in its own right and not just about preparation for the future. The best way to prepare a child to be 5 is to let them be 4 for a whole year.
We also understand that each child is unique, with a different family and cultural experience, and with different abilities and talents. We, therefore, value each child as an individual and adapt our program to their needs, to allow them to explore their interests and draw on their strengths, give them courage to try new things, and celebrate their unique identities.
We strongly believe that early childhood education works best in partnership with families and we do our best to foster positive relationships with the important people in the children’s lives, to extend their sense of belonging from home to preschool. To facilitate this partnership, educators are always available to discuss children’s progress with their educators. We also communicate with families through our newsletters, the curriculum program, and through the children’s online and interactive digital portfolios.
Relationships
“The magic of relationship building and connection is alive and well at the preschool”
If children feel a strong sense of belonging, they are free to engage in the activities around them and to learn from their peers and teachers. As the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) says, positive relationships are the foundation of that sense of belonging. We, therefore, put an enormous effort into helping children form and maintain strong bonds with the staff and with other children, modeling positive relationships, and welcoming families to the preschool community. We support open communication, respect, and encouragement as effective social skills.
Play and the Program
Preschool children learn best when they are interested and having fun, so we offer a play-based program, which allows the children to explore their ideas and imagination, engage their creativity, practice and develop skills, create new knowledge, and learn about their world. As the ELYF says, ‘play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine’. Our educators follow and extend on ideas raised by the group as well as initiate new experiences for them to explore. This provides a balance between child and teacher lead experiences and allows the children to encounter narrative, language, music, art, spatial awareness, and early numeracy in ways that sustain their interest.
Our programming is based on the ELYF, but we are also influenced by the knowledge, philosophy, and practices of the Reggio Emilia Schools, Gardener’s Multiple Intelligence Theory, Daniel Goleman’s work on Emotional Intelligence, Sir Ken Robinson’s work on the importance of creativity in education and Social Constructivism that sees learning as social. We aspire to use Ann Pelo’s practices of collaboration and presence with children and families and incorporate Richard Louv’s advice on the importance of connecting with children in the natural world.
Learning Environment
“A whole lota love, knowledge and planning goes into creating beautiful learning environments for children at Emmerick Street”
The Preschool building is a freestanding cottage with a spacious play area at the back. The routine has a balance of structured and flexible learning experiences. There are times in the day we come together as a whole group or in small groups.
When the children are engaged in free play, they choose what they want to do. Inside, we set up learning spaces they can go to Home Corner, the Construction Room, the Book, and Puzzle Room, or the Art and Craft room.
Outside, they can play in the sand and water pit, in the garden, on the climbing frames, in the antique metal ball, in the outdoor digging area, or have a chat with the preschool’s guinea pigs ‘Oreo and Spike’. Both internal and external areas are natural and homely, with special touches like family photos, natural colour schemes, in turn, children feel responsible, calm, and comfortable in a space that they can own.
Health and Wellbeing
We believe in supporting children to live healthy, active, and fulfilling lives by caring for themselves and their environment. This message is woven through the program and the children’s daily routine in a myriad of ways including cooking healthy food, eating morning tea/lunch together as a community, practicing yoga, and encouraging them to adopt habits to promote good hygiene. The teaching team support this by being healthy role models for the children and helping them to care for the preschool environment too, particularly the Preschool’s guinea pigs, kitchen garden, compost, and worm farm.
Team Emmerick
Our educators are recognized as a vital part of our community and we value them as professionals and role models as they support the children’s learning. As a small preschool, we are very aware that the quality of staff and their ability to work as a team has an enormous impact on the effectiveness of our program.
Our highly trained and experienced staff currently includes two university-trained Early Childhood Teachers, one Diploma, and one Educator.
Family Involvement
There are many opportunities for families to engage with the Preschool and each other at Emmerick Street, which has always been a community-based Preschool. The Preschool is managed by the Director and a volunteer parent Management Committee and we also welcome parents to come and share their skills with the children. All families are required to help at working bees and fundraisers, which are wonderful occasions for families to get to know the teachers and each other.
Community
We aim for our Preschoolers to feel a “sense of belonging” to their broader community too. This is achieved through short outings within our community. Throughout the year, small groups of children visit host children’s houses for ‘home visits’, which supports children to feel a greater sense of belonging as their friends and teachers get to know them better. We also have incursions where we welcome special guests, such as grandparents, artists, or the fire brigade, to help the children understand the diversity and richness of the community to which they belong.
Our families are welcome to think of our philosophy as a living document, reflecting our changing community. Please feel free to contact Preschool with your feedback or ideas.